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presence, and of his disturbing touch. Pam's bright eyes had not missed
anything since she had walked into the room. Sabrina felt totally out of her
depth. She didn't know how to cope with the charged atmosphere. She
closed her eyes briefly, wishing she knew what to do or say to defuse the
situation.
Pam came to her rescue. She got to her feet and said, "Well, guess I'll go
back to Mrs. Moore so she doesn't have to spend too much time alone on her
first day." She patted Sabrina's free hand. "I'll give you a call later."
"Thanks, Pam. For everything."
Pam grinned. "That's what friends are for." She glanced at Michael, her eyes
twinkling. "It was good to see you again, Mike."
"Same here. Tell Tommy hello for me."
"Oh, I will. He'll be delighted to know I saw you."
They were both silent after she left the room. Michael continued to hold her
hand until Sabrina felt she could no longer ignore his gaze.
"You never did answer me," he said softly.
"About what?"
"About how you feel."
"It's hard to tell, really. The medication keeps me feeling dopey, but without
much pain. When it wears off I'm more aware of the pain, but I can also
think more clearly."
At the moment, she had a strong need to have a clear head. This particular
man caused her to do and say all manner of unexpected things.
"I can't stay long," he said after a moment. "I just wanted to check in with
you, make sure you weren't feeling any worse."
She rubbed her swollen cheek. ' 'I think my vanity has been wounded more
than anything else."
His fingertips grazed her cheek as delicately as the wings of a butterfly. ''The
swelling and discoloration will go down in a few days."
"I know. I'm really being a big baby about all of this."
He leaned down toward her, taking his time, until his mouth was only a few
inches away from hers. "You're doing just fine, honey. Give yourself a little
credit. You've gone through a traumatic experience. It will take you a few
days to bounce back." The warmth and desire in his eyes were unmistakable
from this distance, and she almost groaned aloud. Then he kissed her, and
Sabrina felt as though she had come into contact with an electrical current
that sent tingling charges racing throughout her body.
Even remembering his kiss now could set up the same sensation of a current
causing her body to throb. If she hoped to get any more sleep this morning,
she would have to think of something more restful than her unprecedented
response to Michael Donovan.
She recognized that she was a long way from gaining control over her
reactions when, hours later, he walked through the door, just as the nurse
was helping her into a wheelchair to check her out of the hospital.
He wore jeans, a leather jacket and a black-and-red plaid wool shirt that put
Sabrina in mind of lumber jacks and the north woods. He looked wonderful.
"Hi," she said with a smile, unable to hide her pleasure at seeing him again.
"You almost missed me. They're letting me out of here this morning."
He leaned down and kissed her cheek as though the greeting were routine,
smiled at the young nurse who was not immune to his charm and picked
up the small case that Pam had brought her clothes in yesterday.
"I know. I've been in touch with your doctor. He said he was letting you
leave on certain conditions."
She sighed. "Yes. I've heard them more than once, I can assure you." She
glanced around the room, not unhappy to be leaving. "Pam said she'd be by
to get me."
"I've talked to her, as well. I told her not to worry about you, that I would see
that you were taken care of for the next few days."
Her gaze flew to his face, which wore a carefully guarded expression.
"You?"
Five
mm. I'm taking you home with me." from Michael at a small table in his kitchen, wondering
Sabrina sat across
what she was doing there with him, sipping coffee and trying to understand
how this man had been able to step into her life and take over so completely.
She knew her thought processes were not working at full power, and she
forced herself to concentrate on his explanations.
"We aren't sure what caused the attack on you," he explained earnestly. "I
don't want to take a chance that there is someone looking for you personally.
Rather than raise anyone's suspicions, I decided to have you disappear for a
few days, if you don't mind.""Do you think the secrecy is necessary?"
"Yes, I do. I'd like to play this one as safe as possible." He gave her his most
engaging smile, and she wondered if he knew how susceptible she was to it.
"It won't be so bad, will it? I'll be at work much of the time, and you'll have
plenty of opportunity to rest and relax." He touched her hand. "It will also
give us a chance to become better acquainted." That's exactly what I'm
afraid of Sabrina thought. Having dinner occasionally or seeing a movie
together is a far cry from living together!
"Why don't you let me show you around the place? It's not as though we'll be
stumbling over each other while you're here."
He stood and held out his hand to her, and Sabrina found herself responding.
Perhaps she was overreacting. It was probably the pain in her head that kept
her from coming up with logical alternatives to his suggestion.
She managed not to stiffen when he placed his hand at her waist. He had a
beautiful home with a panoramic view of the winding lake that had at one
time been the Osage River. Sliding doors opened onto a redwood deck that
held a table, a few comfortably padded chairs and a couple of chaise
longues.
"The master bedroom is up there. It has its own bath." Michael pointed to
the balcony overlooking the living area. ' 'I thought you might enjoy staying
up there, although you may stay wherever you wish. There's another
bedroom on this floor that I use as an office, and two more downstairs that
are separated by a bathroom."
She nodded toward the balcony. "Isn't that your room?"
"Yes, but I don't spend much time there." He guided her downstairs, where
she discovered a large game room. A pool table dominated the room. "When
I'm too keyed up to sleep I come down here and shoot pool for hours. I'm
afraid I might disturb you if you were down here, but of course it's up to you.
I want you to be comfortable."
She rubbed her forehead. "Are you sure you want to do this?"
He turned her so that she was facing him. "I'm very sure."
"But what about my clothes? I only have the gowns that Pam brought me
and what I'm wearing now."
He led her back upstairs. "Why don't you take your pain medication and lie
down for a while? When you wake up I'll run you over to your place and let
you pack a few things."
Lying down sounded like a terrific idea. She would think about all of this
later. "All right."
"Great." He led her up to the balcony. The view was spectacular. When he
walked over and drew back the covers, she willingly sat down on the bed
and slipped off her shoes. He leaned over and casually kissed her,
straightened and, with a smile that she found oddly reassuring, said, "Rest. I
promised the doctor I'd see that you took it easy."
With that he turned away and disappeared down the stairs.
Sabrina stretched out on the bed and sighed. She wasn't sure about what was
happening in her life at the moment. She would have to think about it later.
Downstairs Michael took a deep breath and quietly released it. So far, so
good. He couldn't remember the last time he'd worked that hard to bring
something to pass. Perhaps he'd been a little high-handed in picking her up
and bringing her to his home without giving her a choice. Perhaps he was
taking advantage of the circumstances a little. Perhaps, hell he knew he
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